


Live That Long

by GreyBlueSkies21



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Big Sister Alex Danvers, Character Study, Gen, I'm Sorry, Kind-Of?, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 05:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13827807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyBlueSkies21/pseuds/GreyBlueSkies21
Summary: Kara Danvers.Kara Zor-El.Supergirl.Those titles are all names that mean nothing.Because, in reality, she is none and all of those people at the same time.She's grown, loved and lost and loved some more, but she's still the twelve year old girl who lost her parents, her friends, her teachers, her home.But she's also a twelve year old girl who has a big sister, and that sister, Alex, will always be there to hold her hand.orAlex Danvers has always been there for Kara. She's what makes Kara belong to this strange Earth, and Kara wouldn't have it any other way.





	Live That Long

**Author's Note:**

> I took a break from my Hogwarts AU series to write something and then his happened. Never listen to Lewis Del Mar and Halsey while writing at three in the morning.
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy.

_And we know that we're headstrong_  
_And our heart's gone_  
_And the timing's never right_

 

_Halsey - Roman Holiday_

 

* * *

 

 

 

Her name is Kara Danvers and Alex is her big sister.

 

 

These are primeval truths that she has known for years. She learned them, repeated them, lived them and breathed them until they blended together and become a truth as sure as anything she knows.

 

 

Her name is Kara Danvers. And Alex Danvers is, and always will be, her sister.

 

 

This much is true.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

The moment they first became sisters was the the moment right after the popcorn incident. The noise had died down, the myriad of loud cracking and popping, kernel against metal and butter wafting in the air dying down to the faint static hum of the machine.

 

She was scooped up like a baby, folded into arms too alive to belong to either of her parents and too comforting to belong to Eliza or Jeremiah, and a warm blanket is tucked around her, heating her up from the very marrow, inside to out. The shivers that have reached parts of her she didn't even know could get cold start to slow down again, and she lets the sound of Alex's rhythmic breathing fill her.

 

 

Copies it.

 

 

Alex brings one hand up then, combs her fingers through Kara's blonde hair before pulling closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

 

 

"Look....Whatever happens, whatever happens in the following months or year... I will always be your sister okay? Hell, I don't know how.....n-...not yet. But, I'll always protect you and I'll do the best I can. I can promise you that."

 

 

The older girl paused , eyes determined but unsure.

 

 

"Okay?"

 

 

Kara looks into her eyes then, Alex's wide, hazel orbs full of trust and care and love, and she nods, leans closer into the older girl's side.

 

 

Her name is Kara Danvers.

 

 

She's twelve years old and she's seen the midst of destruction, and monsters and chaos and mayhem.

 

 

She's lost and lost and lost, but she's gained something too.

 

 

She's gained one big sister, Alex, who carries soft, intelligent hazel eyes and small, clever fists. Alex who  can scare the nightmares and ghosts and bullies away, who smiles, a big, silent threat to whoever so much as look at Kara the wrong way.

 

 

Kara latches onto her hand and believes her.

 

 

Because Kara Danvers is twelve years old and her planet is dead.

 

 

But for the first time, she is not alone.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Kara doesn't push.

 

 

Not with invasions and deaths and pods drifting in space, not after fourteen years of putting other first and herself last.

 

 

Kara doesn't push when Mon-El leaves and Reign leaves her hanging off a building, because the girl who's lost so much and gained so little only pushes for other people. She only pushes when others need her, for other people.

 

 

But Alex?

 

 

Alex could be other people.

 

 

She wades through the crowd of onlookers after a particularly tough battle, shoulders everyone else out of the way and drags Kara to the training room, her small, clever fists morphing into gentle hands that never force, never leave, never push.

 

 

Those tough, calloused fists are the caring hands that have held Kara's for years, hands that give her time to shake and sit and cry, that punch and spar with her and keep her on her toes.

 

 

Hands that bring mugs of cocoa and pizza and hold her together as she falls apart at the ripped, loose cotton seams.

 

 

Kara Danvers has one big sister and she clutches to her hand.

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

She coughs wetly, her mouth filling with liquid while the static fades out as suddenly as it had arrived.

 

 

She remembers bits and pieces. A fight downtown.

 

 

Screaming

 

 

Aliens.

 

 

_It's always freaking aliens._

 

 

She coughs again, and more blood fills her mouth, coats her tongue, spills over lips parted and panting as she rolls to her side.

 

 

She knows enough about this alien's physiology to know that she should back away.

 

 

Switch out.

 

 

Run.

 

 

Leave.

 

 

But then Alex is yelling, and Alex is swinging clever and tough rage with small fists at an alien three times her size, and it's Alex is the one she runs to, not away from.

 

 

Alex is the one she's running to when a flash of purple cracks across the night sky and Alex is jumping up (not away, never away, Alex never runs away) and the universe is whirling in Kara's ear.

 

 

Alex is the one she runs to when J'onn screams her name and Alex is the one she runs to when wide blue eyes meet wide brown ones as ground shifts and splits and the earth is catching fire.

 

 

Alex is the one she runs to when her sister is pinned under debris mere feet away and Kara dives to make a wedge between Alex and the falling building.

 

 

Because Alex will always be her big sister.

 

 

Her small, clever fists will always be bigger than Kara's alien ones.

 

 

She'll always be more important, she'll always be bigger and better, because Kara Danvers may be her name, her identity, her soul, but she is nothing without Alex.

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

Sunlight assaults her eyes when she opens them again.

 

 

She can't think, can't breathe.

 

 

She tries, (and fails), to push up against the graveled ground, but her arms are heavy, too heavy, weighted down and her body tingles with nausea that simmers to overflowing.

 

 

But she's still pushing because Alex is a few feet away and Alex is pale and still, and Alex is never pale and she's never still and the sight is more terrifying than anything Kara's ever felt before.

 

 

She crawls over to her, one shaky limb after the other, until she's at her sister's side, and there's blood soaking through her suit, staining the skin of her knees and drenching her boots.

 

 

But Alex is smiling, panting through shaking, forced breaths, but grinning nonetheless.

 

 

She says, (ironically, because she doesn't have the capability to 'have' anything at the moment), "I've got you.", and Kara can't help but smile back because Alex is protecting her, even now.

 

 

The kryptonian smiles because Alex is okay and everyone else is okay and the sister's still have a forever of movie nights and potstickers waiting for them and knowing that, Kara can let her worry melt away and latch on to her sister's words .

 

 

Alex has her and that much is true.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

The conversation tapers off to a standstill and Kara remembers that comment, all those years ago.

 

 

 _"I_ _'ll always protect you."_

 

 

And it's true.

 

 

Because fourteen years, fifteen earth birthdays and one earthquake later, when the alien attacking them has turned to dust and J'onn ran and ran and ran and Kara stood there, waiting for the grenade to hit, it was Alex Danvers who protected her.

 

 

Who grabbed the damn thing out of the sky and held it close. Held it away, far away.

 

 

Alex Danvers protected her. She kept her promise and now Kara is latching onto to every other promise of happiness and forever and hope Alex has made because Alex never lies and anything else is unfathomable at the moment.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Kara Zor-El is twenty-seven years old.

 

 

Her name is Kara Danvers, but that doesn't matter because it's just a name, a name that is changeable. It changes depending on who you are or who you ask or when or why or where you ask it.

 

 

Kara Danvers is a name, and it is nothing.

 

 

But Alex? Alex is always, always there and Alex is everything.

 

 

Alex is her big sister, with small, clever fists and kind, intelligent eyes.

 

 

She hates frozen yogurt, loves punk rock and chews the cap of her pen whenever she thinks too hard or worries too much.

 

 

And she never, ever, lies.

 

 

So, Kara sits there, knees soaked in blood, chest heaving and ears screaming, and she feels like a twelve-year-old again, scared and bruised, a girl whose lost and lost but gained so much more, and she clings to her big sister's hand.

 

 

She clutches and clings as the familiar heartbeat fades to white noise and Alex's soft, caring eyes turn to glazed because Alex Danvers is her sister and she's can scare the bullies and chase the monster away.

 

 

Kara sits there, and she knows, vaguely, that it shouldn't be okay, but somehow, in someway, it is because Alex is right there with her.

 

 

Alex is always and will always be, right there with her and that makes things okay.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Alex will always be with her.

 

 

(Until she isn't)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this started as a adorable fluffy fic but I'm not sure it is at all. 
> 
> Sorry?


End file.
